Report 663
Report #663 Skillset: Druidry Skill: Sap Org: Blacktalon Status: Rejected Aug 2011 Furies' Decision: We are sympathetic to the problem presented; however, we dislike the solutions. We note that solution #1 would make sap easy to maintain with minimal help (perhaps even solo) as it renders sap incurable if a druid is dedicated to hills smudging while the demesne eats away at them--Crow demesnes esp, where they can build ailments through mactans (chill levels), blacklung, throwing off balance, etc, as well as passive bleeding through Crow. Problem: Even with ideal timing, a well-made system cures out of sap+demesne tick before a druid, regardless of race, gets equilibrium back to vines or otherwise compound the afflictions to make sap stick for a lock. As a mugwump with level 3 equilibrium, a druid can cast sap at 3.2s. A target sapped and subsequently hit with a meld cures out without lag in 2s (.5s delay to enter focus body, 1s focus body, .5s delay to enter rub cleanse), a full 1.2s faster than the fastest race a druid can be. Solution #1: Have Ecology HillsSmudge's mud affliction take priority over sap curing with cleanse/scrub/hyperhydrosis to help Ecologist druids with the problem outlined above. Solution #2: Add a DELAY option (the duration of which is either specified by the caster or set as a general time like smudges have an automatic delay, I'll leave to the Administration to decide) to be added to single (not super) sling runes and dreamcast motes. This should help Runist and Dreamweaver druids with the above problem. Solution #3: Drop casting Sap to a 2s equilibrium loss instead of 4s, unless some other more brilliant idea dawns on me or is generated by this report. Player Comments: ---on 8/7 @ 07:22 writes: Solution 2 would mean that you can time a sling/dreamcast to hit at any time after you cast? None of the more sap-sticking dreamweaving motes (daydreams, epilepsy, narcolepy) have immediate effect, so I'm not sure how much that would aid the dreamweaver. Solution 1 sounds good, but seems... abuseable. Speeding up sap cast time would be fine as far as I can tell, it would give the druid a fighting chance at sticking sap, though they'd still have to race to outpace curing on all their other actions. ---on 8/7 @ 21:50 writes: I imagine that a Hallucination mote properly delayed and timed could very well hinder sap curing when set to hit with the right illusion. Runes is pretty obvious with timing Ger before the meld. ---on 8/10 @ 18:29 writes: Unfortunatly, hallucination motes have a delay before their activation, to avoid triggering off the flick message to disregard the illusion. I like the delay idea, but it only has application for runes users. ---on 8/10 @ 21:13 writes: I'd suggest making a mote that would indeed help Dreamweavers then, since the delay option would give them the opportunity to actually time the effect, whatever it eventually is, with the problem outlined above rather than having to rely on spamming deepsleep. ---on 8/11 @ 14:41 writes: I wouldn't support a delay or a faster eq time on solution sap. Solution 1 seems the best route to take ---on 8/13 @ 14:56 writes: I can't find myself supporting either solution 1 or 2. Just having sludge overwrite ectoplasm on cleanse was a huge ordeal that needed to be fixed and I imagine if this first solution went through it'd need to be fixed in a few months also. I do recognize that there is a problem, and ideally I'd find a middle ground on solution 3, probably 2.5 or 3 seconds, but that is the option that has my support ---on 8/13 @ 18:55 writes: I disagree that mud prioritised over sap would be a problem to the same extent as gunk prioritised over ectoplasm on the basis alone that ectoplasm is 1p and thus easily spammable. Sap's 5p cost ensures that the proposed change won't just be done willy nilly and require proper timing for the power-heavy class to address the existing issue. Solution two addresses the problem for non- Ecologists. The proposed middle-ground for the third, as suggested by Morbo, still would leave them depending on lag to follow up, therefore making it unviable still, so I disagree with it.